With a very strong Metacritic score and more concurrent players than any of the past years’ Dragon Ball games, it’s safe to say that Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is a hit. It’s got 182 characters to choose from with more on the way, tons of “what if?” scenarios to scratch the itches of longtime Dragon Ball fans, and it’s got nods to tons of classic moments through the different Dragon Ball shows and movies. It’s got a lot going for it, but one thing that players pretty much unanimously agree could be better is, ironically, the gateway to all of this action: the tutorial.
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Fighting games always have a curve to them as people get used to new mechanics, so the tutorials are pretty invaluable in games like Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero. It was disappointing to many, then, to see that the training components of the new Dragon Ball game were not quite as helpful as they could’ve been had they been more thorough.
Those who got to play Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero ahead of others via early access advised others to play the tutorials and training battles first to get a grasp of the mechanics, but many who did so still said that they found the resources lacking.
“I agree tutorials are a must, but with that being said did you feel like they could have done a better job at explaining things in the tutorial?” one player said in rebuttal to the suggestion to do the tutorials. “What I mean is they could have done better at showing input commands and or showing how things connect.”
Others added that essential moves like the Vanishes and counters should’ve been explained much better. Some opinions shared elsewhere were harsher on the tutorial and said that even the advanced tips weren’t too helpful. Another Twitter user shared an example of some Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero tips side by side which appear to completely contradict one another. One says that you should use close-range combat when fighting giant enemies like Great Ape Vegeta while another tip says maybe you should be trying beam attacks from a distance instead. With conflicting instructions like that, it’s no wonder that people are having so much trouble fighting Great Ape Vegeta.
Chances are high that you’ll forget most of what the tutorials have to offer if you try to cram them in all at once anyway, so you’re probably better off just playing Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero and then revisiting the tutorials once you need clarification on something. The game only just came out officially as of today, however, so there’s still room for Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero to receive some better tutorials and how-tos via post-launch updates.
